New Yorkers aren’t easily shocked. But often, they are surprised. Like when an unknown, baby-faced, burly minor leaguer joined the Yankees and immediately took a storied franchise by storm.

Shane Spencer was his name, and in September of 1998 he walloped 10 homers, including three grand slams — Derek Jeter to this day is still looking for his first — in only 67 at-bats. That’s about a homer every other game. It was stunning, downright Ruthian, and definitely a fantasy dipped in folklore. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated. He earned a spot on the Yankees postseason roster. The locals nicknamed him “The Natural” after the fictional Roy Hobbs, high praise indeed. And then, almost as quickly as he became a sensation, Spencer settled into a utility role, never recapturing such lightning again.

Which brings us to the basketball version of Sept. ’98, and the only question now is, where does Jeremy Lin go from here? Is he the real deal? Or is he the Knicks’ Shane Spencer?

He is exotic, the first Chinese-American in a black man’s game. He is awkwardly schooled, hailing from that hoops hotbed of Harvard. He’s a true underdog who didn’t register strongly on any general manager’s radar in the Draft, was cut and played in the NBA Development League. Up until a few weeks ago, he was an afterthought on the very team he’s now saving from disaster.

And now, look at this. He’d own New York if not for lousy timing.

Damn you, Eli Manning.

Most of all, Lin is eminently worth rooting for, rare for a New York athlete. America loves these type of stories, where stardom greets someone who was deemed rather ordinary, especially when that person is just as surprised by the magical run as everyone else. He becomes endearing, especially with the backdrop of New York, and particularly as a member of the bumbling Knicks, the butt of jokes for a decade and running.

And so, you’re not sure who’s luckier here: Lin, for finally being discovered in smashing fashion, or the Knicks, who stumbled upon a potential gem?

The Knicks were being devoured whole by the bloodthirsty tabloids before Linsanity hit. Mike D’Antoni‘s job was being discussed with regularity on the radio. Carmelo Anthony was almost in tears as he slumped in front of his locker, following a sucker-punch of a defeat to the Nuggets. Their backcourt was thin on talent. They were 8-15 when, because of injuries and also because they really had nothing to lose, Lin was thrust into the action against the Nets last week. Up until that Nets’ game, he’d played only 48 minutes, scored 30 points, and didn’t get any run in 13 of 23 NBA games.

But now? The Knicks are 3-0 with Lin and the topic of conversation, in a different sort of way. Perhaps their hole in the backcourt has just been plugged. They spent a gazillion on their front line and here’s a godsend who’s making a little over 700 grand, the league minimum, and who crashes on his brother’s sofa to save money in high-rent Manhattan.

Did they know what they had? Didn’t he at least stand out in practice? In a sense, the Knicks look both good and bad in this case. And definitely lucky.

For the sake of conversation, let’s imagine the champagne glass being half-full here. Let’s argue that Lin is here to stay, an All-Star in the making. It wouldn’t be such a stretch. He was a star on every level. He had a bumpy transition to the NBA, but hey, what young player doesn’t? His athletic ability is undeniable. Guy owns a rapid first-step to the rim, can elevate once he’s there, and doesn’t back down. He’s smooth on the pick and roll, and the Knicks gleefully discovered he can dunk . He gave it to Deron Williams. He served up John Wall. Those are two mighty impressive pelts.

And while his outside shooting is a work in progress, you sense he’ll figure it out; he is Ivy educated. Finally, now that he has a sweet taste of fame and success, Lin probably hungers for more. He realizes what’s at stake: a big contract down the road, icon status among those who share his heritage and athletic glory in New York. Why would anyone want to blow that chance?

Yet there is another direction he can travel. He can turn into Shane Spencer. Defenses can figure him out, cut down his lanes, force him to shoot, which again he doesn’t do exceedingly well yet. Just like pitchers quickly learned how to confuse Spencer, NBA players wise up in a hurry. Lin is still being studied, and soon everyone will have a more accurate read on him. And oh, did we mention ‘Melo? In case you forgot, much of Linsanity has happened without ‘Melo, who does enjoy possession of the ball. A lot. We’ll see how that works out.

“What? No idea. I don’t even know what he’s done. I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

Obviously the New York Post and Daily News will take that as a diss and play it up big. Kobe hasn’t heard of Linsanity? That’s an insult to all of New York. A city that isn’t easily impressed is all over the latest Cinderella in the making, and Jeremy Lin will be trumpeted as the biggest sensation on the Knicks. At least until he isn’t any longer. Whenever that happens.

Lin is the real deal. He out performed Kobe. Yes nowadays NBA is the black’s man game but wait for another 3 to 5 years. Asian and European players will surface. Last year’s draft there were a lot of white players drafted. As the year goes by more and more players from other countries outside the USA are being drafted. Yes I agree 80% of the top players are black but there are few white players there too. Just wait and see. Nowitzki, Nash, Rubio, Lin, Bargnani Love and so on will rise to the occasion or already have and will be in the top 10 NBA players. And dont forget STEVE NASH twice an NBA league’s MVP and he is white Canadian, Nowitzki MVP NBA finals. Wade, Lebron nor Bosh can stop him. Just wait more to come. LIN is the real thing5 games in a row scored over 20+ points and Knicks won 5 straight without Melo and Stoudemire.

Important thing is, LIN provided the wins when he was playing great. Sure team would figure him out, sure B. Davis would take up his starting spot, sure his weakness would show up eventually, sure he wouldnt be getting a fat paycheck for having Amare and Melo taking up all of the Knick’s payroll, sure he would soon be forgotten after this 66-game season. But still, LIN stringed 20-30+ games 5 times as of now, beat Kobe’s Lakers, as just showed everyone in the NBA he can compete if given the chance. That’s what basketball is all about right? Not just the highlights, not just the hype, but just getting the WINS and competing throughout the competition. We won’t know where he’d be the next year, but as of now, he ENJOYED BASKETBALL more than we could ever imagine.

Lin is legit. He will have his rough patches, as teams start to figure him out, but if he puts his head into it he’ll overcome it. Dude’s athletic and has got good basketball IQ.
The only worry is that his game might not mesh well with that ballhog Melo. If that doesn’t work out, the Knicks should probably try to trade for Dwight Howard, something like Howard + Turkoglu for Melo + Chandler. Howard gets the big market he craves, Orlando gets a star in return, and if Lin/Chandler pick and rolls already work well, just imagine Lin/Howard pick and rolls *SHUDDERS*. If Howard and Stat can gel, that team will challenge every year for sure.

Lin’s here for the long haul. He has good basketball IQ. Winning against a tough competition and making his best output so far (38 pts.) in four games, I hope he’s on your radar, or he’ll continuously torch you.

how about that kobe? An undrafted sophomore who was cut by the team and played in the d-league puts up 38 points in your first game with him. And wait he even put up a decent stats than you kobe. Idiot warriors who favored nate robinson than a true nba pg that will become an all star in progress

KB with his FAKE butt personality and comments again, knowing VERY WELL who Jeremy Lin and LinSanity is ALL ABOUT, even before he TORCHED KB and Lakeshow for 38 points and outplayed KB. Everyone knew KB was just lying, sayin dumb stuff like he always does.

All the taiwanese out there… I wonder where you all decended from? and why call your own country republic of china? answer these then maybe i’ll agree with y’all about taiwanese chinese non sense. even singaporean call themselves chinese. get over it

No need to apologize, because the country Taiwan does not exist on this planet. US and the majority of the world only recognize one China, and that’s the mainland. Although it would be more appropriate to write “Chinese-American from Taiwan”.

Lin’s grandparents moved from China to Taiwan. His ancestry is Chinese. Taiwanese is a nationality, not an ethnicity. Lin, however, wasn’t born in Taiwan but America. His nationality is AMERICAN and his ethnicity is HAN CHINESE. Therefore, if you are not intellectually handicapped, you would be able to conclude he is Chinese American.

If you speak english and you can write english, does that make you english? NO.

Yes Taiwan is not a official country and it’s people are of Chinese ethnicity originally, but it’s been seperated from China for nearly more than a generation. 99.9% of people from taiwan have never been to China vice versa. Since China becane communitist a country (not saying that is bad), there is a huge cultural difference and way of thinking between the people in Taiwan and China – more than I would say between english speaking countries, like Australia, states, canada, english etc. The written language is different as well.

Lin is born in America, so this arugment is off topic, but people should know that people from China (Chinese) and eople from Taiwan(Taiwanese) are two types of very very different people.

No need to apologize, because the country Taiwan does not exist on this planet. US and the majority of the world only recognize one China, and that’s the mainland. Although it would be more appropriate to write “Chinese-American from Taiwan”

man,calm down,ok?basketball is basketball,not politics.the formal name of taiwan is republic of china(Chung-hua Min-kuo ).as the cantonese is chinese,the most of Singaporean is chinese ect,the taiwanese is chinese(Hua-jen,華人).btw, lin is an american,hehe.

what’s that? i don’t know what u talking about. (kobe on lin)
(laughs) there’s no rivalry. can’t compare us to a team winning a few game in regular season. (fisher to clippers)
how many times do we see kobe pounding on his chest, saying it’s all his fault or all his glory. it’s disgusting to see such a narcissistic move.
Lakers might have talents, but they got no sportsmanship. It’s a disgrace to see athletes, who supposed to be role models, acting like they are the only team in league deserves a championship.
They got swept last year, and they are not gonna do much better this year. Basketball is a team sport not a luxury name brand super car. For those who follow lakers blindly, please understand -

” Just like pitchers quickly learned how to confuse Spencer, NBA players wise up in a hurry. Lin is still being studied, and soon everyone will have a more accurate read on him”.

“Wising up” ain’t a one-way street. Being an Ivy League grad, Lin will no doubt do his fair share of studying and getting accurate reads on everyone else as well, especially now that he’s playing more.

I think the difference this time from the d.will and wall is that NYK is facing an all around team, with very active inside players like bynum, gasol, and worldpeace, it will be tough on Lin’s part, from the nets there is no great defense, and from the jazz not that dominant, about the wizards, wall has defense as well as mcgee, but i don’t know what happened, how Lin made it through, and now facing giants from LA, we should be ready. I believe Lin is a player that has a heart of a beast, actually, almost all asians especially those called “Underdogs” has that kind of heart and attitude, well, let’s see what happens here. I’m nothing less than excited about this, I can’t wait NYK w over lakers :) actually last night, I dreamed about this game it was I think third or fourth quarter but the score was LA= 60+, NYK=100+ nyahahahahahahahahahaha well, it was a dream, and I really really really hope it would come true LOL GG KIDS!!! GG LIN!! I still call him “THE LIN-INATOR! THE ASIAN LIN-SATION! and THE LIN-SANITY!”

It’s been 3 games, calm down. If he can do it against the Lakers than its good. He has played some of the worst defensive teams in league during the 3-0 stretch. Plus, no one expected him to be good and that is why his stat sheet is spectacular right now. But if you look at 90% of his shots, he was wide open. Lakers will be prepared to beat Lin, and than we will see the real problem the Knicks have. Lin is a temporary solution, Knicks need a much better coaching staff.

90 pecent of his shot are open?? go back to last three games and look again.. all most all his shots are drives which he had to bet someone off the dribble. and when he is driving to the basket he gets foul most of the time and still makes the basket………

Lin will come up against much better defensive team which will slow his scoring, but he really doesn’t nee to score much anyway. He’s proved to be the only Knick PG who can run the pick and roll which worked well with chandler and will work with amare as well. Ballmovement is key for NY and Lin is the man to make it happen.

Not a good article…”Black man’s game?” I believe basketball was invented by a white Canadian working in the US and is now played by a whole lot more non-blacks around the world. The NBA might be a predominantly black, but basketball is not. What an ignorant statement by the writer

This is a great article, and a lot of what was mentioned lingers in the minds of us Knick fans for sure, but what if this kid continuous to pull it off? What if this new sensation continues to make the team better? What if when Amar’e and Melo return, the team becomes the powerhouse Knicks we have all been anticipating since back when the Amar’e trade occurred. And most importantly, what if the Knicks take out the Lakers tonight. Man, I don’t think I will sleep tonight if that happens. We New Yorkers love to cheer for the underdog and Jeremy Lin is an inspiration to us all, not to mention that his story of being somewhat of a reject in the league, and then to rise as he has is just making this that much sweeter.

Please change Chinese American to Taiwanese American, Lin is of Taiwanese decent and they are two different countries. I know you probably had no idea, but I feel like this will just perpetuate the notion that all Asians are Chinese. Thanks.

OK — let’s stop BS. It goes nowhere and has nothing to do with basketball. Besides, the brother is AMERICAN.

Mr. Powell, you don’t have to take Jimmy’s request seriously. Why, because the national language in Taiwan is Mandarin, which is Chinese. Chinese have lived there nearly forever. Lin’s name is Chinese. His ancestors emigrated from China.

BTW, I’m not even from China. I’m from a country in SE Asia, but I am CHINESE, as are my family.

What does this say about the ability of NBA general managers and coaches to evaluate TALENT? How can a kid be this good and not one single NBA general manager or coach could SEE HIS OBVIOUS PLAYING ABILITY?

becuase he didnt make a good transition into the NBA, its not that hard to grasp. during practices he probably didnt do well against his fellow teamates causing him to lose time. but beacuse of his growing experince he stated to get some time, and eventually became what we know of him today

You can say the same about NCAA coaches and talent scouts. Lin puts it best himself, “I just think in order for someone to understand my game, they have to watch me more than once, because I’m not going to do anything that’s extra flashy or freakishly athletic.” – taken from his wikipedia entry

Lin is a PG, for him it’s much more important to make plays for the team instead of going into some kind of scoring contest with Kobe. I’d much rather see him making double double this game instead of going for 20+ points against the lakers.

He’s on the court to win game, not to show that he’s a bigger ball hogger than Carmelo.

So far I haven’t seen anything worth writing home about from Lin. He’s had an impressive start but nothing that is deserving of being mentioned in the same sentence as Chris Paul, John Wall or any of the other greats he is being compared to. If he is given some individual attention by the coaching staff ( especially on his outside shot) he may become a decent point. To me, his most impressive Stat is a 4.2 from Harvard.

I love linsanity a hype but it is a matter of time before they figure him out. Brandon Jennings had a similiar start to the nba but after about the first 15 games his numbers dropped significantly. I think lins numbers will drop and be only a average Nba player but while his hot we can only hope it continues.

I agree. It’s only a matter of time before teams learn how to guard him. Then we’ll learn that he is probably an average player with an above average basketball IQ. However, that’s exactly what the Knicks need at the point. Not an idiot like Douglas or immobile Bibby or even constantly injured Davis.

I agree with some part of your comments, but I believe he has above average skills not all star skills, and his Basketball IQ is very high… which will result in many nba years as a starting Point guward..

kobe’s an idiot. how do you not hear about jlin? Does he not prepare for his games by watching film, studying his opponents? wow. now kobes gonna have no idea who lin is and how to stop him. which is why lin is going to score 30 tonight.

I think he is real, if given more opportunities I am sure that Lin can excell and be as good as any elite PG in the NBA. However, even greatest players have their off-on nights, just like any great players out there, Kobe for example, he has had his off-nights where he could not sink the ball. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a great player. No one is consistently good. I just hope that when Lin has his off night people won’t ridicule as much as they have praised when he’s on fire. I think Lin has the talent and genuinely what it takes to as good as any elite PG in the NBA. GO LIN!!

I think things are getting a little out of hand here folks. To put this kind of pressure on an unsigned point guard is unfair to all involved. I don’t want to hear that 3 NBA teams didnt pick up on his talent. I’m not saying he can’t play the game of basketball. I myself have watched his 3 games on YouTube more times then I can remeber already. But we need to take a step back and really look at what we have here. We have a young man making the most of his chance. We have a unknown that WILL become known. Why don’t we give him a month or so before we starting voting for him to be an all-star/MVP.

i think its unfair to put so much pressure on this guy. he definitely has talent. will he save the knicks season? isnt that amare’s, melo and chandlers job? to say that he should take this team from shambles to glory is truly looking at this athlete from the wrong perspective.

finally someone on the knicks team who knows how to use chandler on the offensive end.. too many times chandler is open in the paint and doesn’t get the ball.. he’s such a great finisher and a solid FT shooter, they should get him the ball everytime when he’s open down there. I’m curious if he can work as well with stoudemire in the pick and roll.

What a wonderful writing in praising little Lin’s talent. I start to watch KNICKS because of him. Lin can make 5 peoples to play like one people with five highest power engine. This is why Kincks could win 3-0. Basketball is a team work. After a team can work as one person, this team must win. Lin has a bright Harvard brain. He can make five into one.

However, many times, games are controlled by referees because some of them only like stars. Even though those stars are wrong, referees still give them right. Fortunately, the refrees in the last three games were relatively fair to Lin. Hope that in the future, referees can continuously give fair treatment without race bias.

You know this article is deceptive. That is not all Kobe said. Check yahoo for the whole statement. He acknowledged hearing about Lin but didn’t know why and asked if he was putting up triple doubles or something. Then he said he would check it out. Either way I get the impression that he wasn’t very interested, but this article makes it seem like he was being arrogant.

Lin is the real thing. I saw him play against J Wall in the ’10 Summer League. Wall got the loudest cheers during players intros, but by the end of the game the entire arena was cheering for the Asian from Harvard. He LIT. IT. UP. in that summer league game. I lost track of him after that summer, but I’m not surpised the least that he’s turned up again, and in dominating fashion.

In Warriors, some fans questioned if the team signed him because 1) he is a hometown boy, 2) to appease the huge Asian population there, which is quite unfair to him. But maybe that WAS part of the reasons the team signed him, and wasn’t really serious about giving him playing time.

No really?! I had no idea! I’m refferring to the fact that basketball is played by everyone and in other countries as well. Just because the NBA is predominantly black does not make basketball a black man’s game, and I never said it was racist but thanks for coming out to show your true colors there.

@lovey Seriously? You know there’s a guy called Dirk Nowitzki. Most people rank him the 4th or 5th best player in the league right now. And his playoff performance last year was one of the best ever. Oh and he was the MVP at one point.
K. Love looks like a promising Top 10 player too.
And how about Deron Williams? One of the 3 best PGs in the league, along with CP3 and DRose. And speaking of PGs, how about Steve Nash or Jason Kidd? Maybe not Top-10 material anymore because of their age, but still elite players and definitely Top 5 players at the peak of their respective careers.
Sure, the league still is (and probably always will be) dominated by black players. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any Top 10 or even Top 5 players that are white ;)

Relax, what he meant by “black man’s game” is that in the present the majority of players dominating this game is the black athlere. It is not meant that the black man created this game or historically they populated the game.

Well, most NBA player are black, and most stars are black, Bosh, Stoudemire, Lebron, Wade, Paul, Kobe, Rose, the list goes on, so yeah it is a black men´s game, sure other guys can join but this game is definitely played a lot more by black people. Im not even American its not like Im on any side, just a fan of the gae and I know who plays, mostly black guys. Nothing racist on that.

I have to agree only because of how hypocritical the statement is, Say “baseball a white mans game” or “Hockey a white mans game” or “Golf a white mans game” and everyone would be screaming racist.. which is why you don’t see highly publicized articles say such things… but its okay to say the exact opposite if it’s in reference to someone who’s black… hypocritical.

I’ve kept my eyes on this kid since he joint Worriors last season. I know it is only matters of time for him to excel when I read some report that he always looked for praying room before entering court.

Not to bog down Lin’s achievements or anything, but two of those wins did come against the Wizards and Nets, who aren’t exactly quality teams by any stretch of the imagination. Either way, he’s a very welcome surprise for New York, and I actually look forward to seeing if he can keep this up.

3 games is enough to prove somebody´s worth in a team…not only individual stats shows it but the big W´s and the positive impact for his team mates tell us all…definitely Lin is one of the best stars which is accidentally discover by fate and time will tell the next episode of this sensational discovery…Lin don´t actually just know how to play but HE GOT GAME!

agreed. you’ve also got to realize him doing all this virtually without melo and STAT. as much as melo needs the ball, he plays better when there is a astute 1. there hasnt been so far and melo’s games been garbagey as a result. defenses will figure him out. but the dudes got bball IQ which is what gives him the ability to run a myriad of plays. you cant ‘figure’ that out. the dude is also an unselfish pg, a ‘lane’ you cant take away. he’s makin guys like novak potent, and guys like chandler unearth potential u didnt know existed. (i.e. prediction: chandler’s previous high for ppg will be a mark he will attain frequently with lin running the 1) i do wonder tho, once baron davis is healthy again whenever the hell that is, what coach is gonna do…

Hey… that part of the story is true but for other reason, the thing is that Lin didn’t know if he would be picked by NY by the end of the month so he preferred to crash at his brother’s sofa and on other teammates’ for the time being until he was guaranteed a contract until the end of the season.